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Lewis Wayne Snoots, in the center-left of the red box, with his left hand visible on Officer Michael Fanone’s left shoulder/back. (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A Virginia man who prosecutors said restrained an officer severely beaten by a mob and repeatedly shocked with a Taser during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to prison on Friday.
Lewis Wayne Snoots, 59, was sentenced to 71 months in prison — or nearly six years — by U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Donald Trump appointee. Snoots previously pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release.
The officer who was assaulted that day, Michael Fanone, attended Snoots’ hearing. The beating was so severe the officer had a heart attack and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
“I think that is the most difficult experience that I’ve got to live with for the rest of my life is just being betrayed by your country,” Fanone, who has retired but says he and his family have been harassed and received threats, told local NBC affiliate WRC.
In the government’s sentencing memo, prosecutors asked for the most time Snoots could serve: 71 months of incarceration.
“Most egregiously, Snoots actively assisted the rioters who dragged MPD Officer Fanone from the tunnel and into the larger mob of rioters creating mayhem on the Lower West Terrace,” they wrote. “Snoots placed his hand on Officer Fanone’s back before eventually restraining the officer’s right hand and arm as other rioters repeatedly and brutally assaulted Officer Fanone. They did so by tasing him in the neck as he screamed in pain while other rioters threatened to use his own gun against him. Officer Fanone suffered debilitating and lasting injuries that continue to afflict him to this day.”
In Snoots’ own sentencing memo, seeking 36 months probation, his lawyer, William Shipley, minimized the defendant’s involvement on that day.
“Mr. Snoots was inside the tunnel for approximately 5 minutes,” Shipley wrote. “He had only momentary involvement with Mr. Klein regarding the police shield, and while he was in direct proximity to Officer Fanone and made physical contact with him, his contact did not result in any injuries to Officer Fanone.”
The actions in question happened around 3:14 at the Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks that day, after Snoots and fellow rioters tried to overpower police, according to court documents. At one point, Snoots pushed on a police shield a rioter was using against officers. When police tried to get the shield back, Snoots grabbed it and passed it back to other rioters, who continued their assault against police, the documents said.
Things took a turn when a rioter wrapped his arm around Farone’s neck and dragged the officer into the crowd outside the Tunnel.
“Hey! I got one!” the rioter shouted.
Video footage shows Snoots moving to the commotion, putting his hand on the officer’s back, and maintaining contact with the officer as rioters pulled the cop into the mob, prosecutors said.
The mob tased, kicked, punched, pushed, and grabbed Farone. At one point, rioters ripped away his badge and radio and tried to take his service weapon while yelling, “I’m taking your gun!” and “Kill him!”
All throughout, officials added, Snoots used both of his hands to partially restrain Farone’s right arm.
Farone was burned by the repeated taser shocks. He lost consciousness for over two minutes.
Afterward, Snoots recorded a video, saying: “I’m fed up with it, everybody is fed up with it. They have tear-gassed our a– off of the Capitol steps, but it’s not over. What they don’t understand is it’s just starting.”
Whether Snoots will serve time is unclear as President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, will be sworn in as the 47th president on Monday.